As we approach the Easter weekend, I am aware of how much time I have ahead of me now I not only don’t drink booze but don’t have to apply effort to not drinking. Before I quit, the agony of wasting my own time, accidentally getting drunk, recovering from unwanted hangovers, and actively trying to control or avoid alcohol was exhausting and depressing. It was perhaps the biggest driving factor that pushed me into abstinence.
So, I’m curious: what are you hoping to do with all the time you win from not drinking? Or if you have managed to quit, what did you do with the time boon that followed?
This is a question I think about a fair amount. I feel like in theory I should have lots of extra time because I used to spend hours and hours in the act of drinking, and then as you say hours and hours in recovery from drinking. But, I have not found that I actually feel like a have a lot more time on my hands. I think a couple things have happened. One, I sleep more regularly. When I drank, I think hours of sleep were where that time came from. So, in part I'm sleeping instead of drinking. The other thing is that I do more things consistently - such as daily exercise, mediating, reading, writing, or just resting. I never have days when I wake up unable to function. I spent a lot more time resting than I used to. What I haven't done is started any new hobbies or anything like that. I haven't learned how to fix up the house, or how to bake bread, or how to repair my own bicycle, or how to knit, or anything else!
This is a question I think about a fair amount. I feel like in theory I should have lots of extra time because I used to spend hours and hours in the act of drinking, and then as you say hours and hours in recovery from drinking. But, I have not found that I actually feel like a have a lot more time on my hands. I think a couple things have happened. One, I sleep more regularly. When I drank, I think hours of sleep were where that time came from. So, in part I'm sleeping instead of drinking. The other thing is that I do more things consistently - such as daily exercise, mediating, reading, writing, or just resting. I never have days when I wake up unable to function. I spent a lot more time resting than I used to. What I haven't done is started any new hobbies or anything like that. I haven't learned how to fix up the house, or how to bake bread, or how to repair my own bicycle, or how to knit, or anything else!